Flow regulation system for the filling of a sack with a granular product, and corresponding machine and method

Abstract

A flow control system for filling a bag with a granular product, including an acceleration conduit with a metering side where there is arranged a metering device and a filling side for the bag. A control device with movable control blades and a first sensor is provided at an intermediate point of the conduit. A second sensor is provided on the filling side. The control device and sensors are functionally associated with one another such that the blades of said control device move among one position of said plurality of positions depending on if said first and second sensors detect an accumulation of granular product on said filling side which may delay the filling of said bag.

Claims

1. A flow control method for filling a bag with a granular product through an acceleration conduit, said acceleration conduit having a metering side and a filling side for filling said bag where an initial bag is located, wherein the flow control method comprises the following steps: [a] discharging a metered amount of granular material through said metering side from a metering point, [b] detecting, using a first sensor, the passage of said metered amount, which has been previously discharged through said metering side from said metering point, through an intermediate point located between said metering and filling sides and having a modifiable passage section, [c] determining a first arrival time and a first passage time (t.sub.p1) of said metered amount, the passage of which has been detected in step [b], said first arrival time being the time elapsed between the instant of discharging said metered amount from said metering side and the instant of detecting a head of said metered amount at said intermediate point, and said first passage time being the time elapsed between the instant of detecting said head and the instant of detecting a tail of said metered amount at said intermediate point, [d] detecting, using a second sensor, the passage of said metered amount, which has been previously discharged through said metering side from said metering point, through a filling point located on said filling side, [e] determining a second arrival time (t.sub.a2) and a second passage time (t.sub.p2) of said metered amount, the passage of which has been detected in step [d], said second arrival time being the time elapsed between the instant of discharging said metered amount from said metering side and the instant of detecting the head of said metered amount at said filling point, and said second passage time being the time elapsed between the instant of detecting said head and the instant of detecting the tail of said metered amount at said filling point, and [ei] in response to determining that a predetermined bag placement time (t.sub.c)+t.sub.p2<t.sub.a2, discharging a subsequent metered amount of granular material, or [eii] in response to determining that t.sub.p1<t.sub.p2, reducing said passage section of said intermediate point until at least the condition of t.sub.p1t.sub.p2 is complied with.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein performance of said steps [ei] and [eii] is from the first passage time, the second passage time, and the second arrival time, of one and the same first metered amount.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein performance of said steps [ei] and [eii] is from the second passage time of a first metered amount and the first passage time and the second arrival time of a second metered amount, consecutive to said first metered amount.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising calculating said first and second passage times and said first and second arrival times as the arithmetic mean of the passage and arrival times of a plurality of earlier metered amounts.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising experimentally determining the bag placement time while said second metered amount falls through said acceleration conduit.

6. The method according to claim 5, further comprising determining said placement time t.sub.c as an arithmetic mean of the placement times t.sub.c of a plurality of earlier bag placement times.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) Further advantages and features of the invention will become apparent from the following description, in which, without any limiting character, preferred embodiments of the invention are disclosed, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

(2) FIG. 1 shows a schematic view of the flow control system for filling bags with a granular product according to the invention.

(3) FIGS. 2 to 7 show a schematic sequence of the control method in the control system during an optimum bag filling operation.

(4) FIGS. 8 to 10 show a schematic sequence of the method when unwanted obstruction of the acceleration conduit occurs.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF AN EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION

(5) FIG. 1 schematically shows an embodiment of the flow control system 1 for filling a bag 100 with a granular product according to the invention.

(6) The system has a through acceleration conduit 2 arranged in a substantially vertical direction. The conduit 2 has a metering side 4 in the upper part of the drawing and a filling side 10 in the lower part. The conduit 2 has a cross-section tapering in the direction in which the granular product falls. Furthermore, the conduit 2 preferably has a cone shape in the direction from the metering side 4 to the filling side 10. Preferably, the conduit 2 is rigid and made of a sheet metal material, plastic material, or the like. Alternatively, parts of the conduit may be flexible.

(7) Adjacent to the metering side 4 of the conduit 2 there is provided a metering device 6 consisting of a weighing device in which a metered amount of granular product is prepared to fill a bag 100 for each filling cycle. The common metered amount in systems of this type is about 25 kg. To that end, a rapid weighing system is provided in which the weighing bucket 38 is filled through the servomotor M1 which actuates the bowl 40, with a first discharge of a granular product mass close to the target mass in the weighing device until the fine adjustment of the target mass is carried out by adding the final grams required for adjusting the metered amount. This mass is therefore held in the metering device 6, ready to be discharged.

(8) The metering device 6 comprises a metering holder 8 having two blades by way of planar plates. These two planar plates are pivotably movable about a shaft 26 between a holding position for holding a metered product amount and a discharging position for discharging the metered product amount. The movement is carried out through pneumatic cylinders not shown in detail in FIG. 1. Moreover, to facilitate understanding, in FIG. 1, the left blade in its holding position for holding the metered amount is indicated with reference number 8a, whereas reference number 8b shows the discharging position for discharging the metered amount.

(9) The conduit 2 has on the opposite side a filling side 10. Receiving means 12 for receiving the bag 100 are provided on this side. These receiving means 12 are, for example, an inlet adapted to the cross-section of the opening of the bag 100. To assure a proper filling of the bag 100 without wastage, the bag 100 is provided for being fitted to these receiving means 12. The receiving means 12 have suction means. These allow suctioning the filling side 10 of the conduit 2 to prevent obstructions as much as possible. The suction for correcting more significant obstructions may be a continuous suction or only discrete suction. The suction means can be a conventional centrifugal pump, not shown in the drawings, connected to the outlets 30. Alternatively, the suction means can also inject a gas.

(10) A flow control device 14 having two control blades 16 is provided between the metering side 4 and the filling side 10. As seen in FIG. 1, these control blades 16 are movable among a plurality of control positions. To enable carrying out precise control, the movement of the control blades 16 is carried out by means of the servomotor M2. Thanks to the movement of the control blades 16, the cross-section of the conduit 2 is modified. The end positions include a maximum opening position of the conduit 2 which is indicated in the drawing by means of the control blades 16 depicted with reference number 16b in FIG. 1, and a closed position of said conduit 2 which is indicated by means of the control blades 16 depicted with reference number 16a in this same drawing. In this embodiment, the two control blades 16 are in the form of planar plates that are symmetrical with respect to a longitudinal axis 18 of the conduit 2. Nevertheless, the control blades do not necessarily have to be that way, given that they may have other non-planar shapes, or in a simpler version of the system, said control blades may be a single control blade 16. Alternatively, in the concept of the blade, the control device 14 may have a plurality of blades with a diaphragm-type opening and closing system.

(11) In the closed position of the embodiment of the drawings, the control blades 16 form an angle of 90 with respect to one another. As seen in the drawings, the vertex 36 of the angle points downwards, i.e., towards the filling side 10 of the conduit 2. This configuration provides a high reaction speed. In a particularly preferred manner, the angle is adapted to the fluidity characteristics of the product and related to the angle of internal friction of the granular product, corresponding to the angle of the blade with respect to the direction transverse to the longitudinal axis 18.

(12) On the other hand, the system furthermore has a first granular product passage sensor S1 provided at an intermediate point 22 located between the metering and filling sides 4, 10, upstream of the two control blades 16. In particular, it is mounted inside the control device 14 and functionally associated therewith. In that sense, the control blades 16 move actuated by the servomotor M2 depending on the signal received from the first sensor S1, as will be explained below.

(13) The system has further a second granular product passage sensor S2 provided on the filling side 10. FIG. 1 shows that the second granular product passage sensor S2 is mounted inside the receiving means 12. Although the second sensor S2 can be mounted at many points on the filling side, it is preferably mounted adjacent to the inlet area of the bag 100, because the more the first and second sensors S1 and S2 are separated from one another, the longer the reaction time the system will have in the event that the conduit 2 is obstructed.

(14) The metering device 6, the control device 14, and the first and second sensors S1, S2 are functionally associated with one another such that the metered amount holder 8 of the metering device 6 moves between holding and discharging positions and the blades 16 of the control device 14 move to one position from among the plurality of possible positions of the blades depending on if the first and second sensors S1, S2 detect an accumulation of granular product on the filling side 10 which may delay the filling of said bag 100. In the machines of the state of the art, a delay in filling the bag 10 along with an early discharge may cause the accumulation of two successive metered granular product amounts. In contrast, the system according to the invention solves this problem, despite significantly increasing the filling speed.

(15) The sensors S1 and S2 that can be used include a large variety, such as optical sensors, capacitive sensors, infrared sensors, and they are responsible for providing the product passage and arrival times with respect to the different control points of the system in each cycle.

(16) The control system 1 according to the invention is mounted in any bagging machine of the state of the art. By way of example, the system can be mounted in an FFS machine not shown in the drawings. Nevertheless, the machine does not necessarily have to be of this type, rather the system can be mounted in any type of bagging machine.

(17) The method according to the invention is explained below. It must be mentioned that FIG. 1 shows on the right side thereof a diagram of the overlapping passage and arrival times of each step to simplify the explanation. In contrast, the rest of the drawings show the sequence as it occurs in an embodiment of the method.

(18) The method according to the invention is as follows. A first metered amount D1 is discharged through the acceleration conduit 2 from a metering point 20 on the metering side 4 (see FIG. 2). This metering point 20 is located in the metering device 6 with the two pivoting blades of the metered amount holder 8. In particular, the blades of the metered amount holder 8 pivot about the corresponding shaft 26 from the closed position of FIG. 1 to an open position in a very quick movement actuated by the pneumatic cylinder, not shown in detail, which actuates said blades.

(19) Next, as shown in FIG. 3, the passage of the first metered amount D1, which has been previously discharged through the metering side 4 from the metering point 20, is detected. Detection is carried out by the first sensor S1 at the intermediate point 22 located between the metering and filling sides 4, 10. Arranged at this point is the control device 14 which, as a result of the control blades 16, allows modifying the passage section of the conduit 2 at this point.

(20) In the next step shown in FIG. 3, a first arrival time Li and then a first passage time t.sub.p1, FIG. 5, of this first metered amount D1, the passage of which has been detected in the step of the preceding paragraph, are determined. The first arrival time Li corresponds to the time elapsed between the instant of discharging the first metered amount D1 from the metering side 4, i.e., the instant in which the blades of the metering device 6 open, and the instant of detecting the head 32 of the metered amount D1 at the intermediate point 22. In turn, the first passage time t.sub.p1 is the time elapsed between the instant the first sensor S1 detects said head 32 and the instant the same sensor S1 also detects the tail 34 of the first metered amount D1 at the intermediate point 22. To better understand the determination of the first passage time t.sub.p1, reference is made to FIG. 1 in which a compact metered amount Dx has been indicated.

(21) Next, the passage of the first metered amount D1, which has been previously discharged through said metering side 4 from the metering point 20, through a filling point 24 located on said filling side 10, is detected by means of the second sensor S2.

(22) Thanks to the the detection step, a second arrival time t.sub.a2, FIG. 4, and a second passage time t.sub.p2, FIG. 6, of the first metered amount D1, the passage of which has been detected in the step of the preceding paragraph, can be determined. The second arrival time t.sub.a2 is the time elapsed between the instant of discharging the first metered amount D1 from the metering side 4 and the instant of detecting the head 32 of the metered amount D1 at the filling point 24. In turn, the second passage time t.sub.p2 is the time elapsed between the instant of detecting said head 32 and the instant of detecting the tail 34 of the first metered amount D1 at the filling point 24.

(23) Finally, the following alternative step is carried out: if t.sub.c+t.sub.p2<t.sub.a2, a second metered amount D2 of granular material is discharged, t.sub.c being a predetermined bag placement time. This situation is depicted in FIGS. 6 and 7. In this situation, the second metered amount D2 is falling through the conduit 2 but there is, nevertheless, enough time to finish filling the preceding bag with the first metered amount D1, remove the bag being filled, and put the bag to be filled with the second metered amount D2 in place, before the second metered amount leaves the conduit 2 for the bag.

(24) In contrast, if t.sub.p1<t.sub.p2 the blades 16 are closed and the passage section of the intermediate point 22 is reduced until at least the condition of t.sub.p1t.sub.p2 is complied with. The objective of this control condition is to delay or, if necessary, hold the subsequent metered amount to facilitate the falling of the first metered amount D1 into the corresponding bag.

(25) The steps described in the immediately preceding paragraph are performed from the first passage time t.sub.p1, the second passage time t.sub.p2, and the second arrival time t.sub.a2, of one and the same first metered amount D1. Nevertheless, in an alternative embodiment with respect to the one described, the steps of comparing times to decide on the partial or complete closure of the blades 16 of the control device 14 are performed from the second passage time t.sub.p2 of a first metered amount D1 and the first passage time t.sub.p1+1, and the second arrival time t.sub.a2+1 of a second metered amount D2, consecutive to said first metered amount D1.

(26) Based on the foregoing, one of the following alternative steps is carried out: if t.sub.c+1+t.sub.p2<t.sub.a2+1, a second metered amount D2 of granular material is discharged, t.sub.c+1 being the placement time of the bag which receives the second metered amount. In contrast, if t.sub.p1+1<t.sub.p2 the blades 16 are closed and the passage section of the intermediate point 22 is reduced until at least the condition of t.sub.p1+1t.sub.p2 is complied with.

(27) In another embodiment, in order to obtain a more robust control that is less sensitive to product flow irregularities, said first and second passage times t.sub.p1, t.sub.p2 and said first and second arrival times t.sub.a1, t.sub.a2 are calculated as the arithmetic mean of the passage and arrival times of a plurality of earlier metered amounts.

(28) Finally, the bag placement time t.sub.c can be a predetermined constant, but it is preferably determined experimentally while the second metered amount D2 falls through said acceleration conduit 2. Moreover, and like the arrival and passage times, the placement time t.sub.c can also be determined as an arithmetic mean of the placement times t.sub.c of a plurality of earlier bag placement times.

(29) The sensors S1 and S2 mounted in a closed loop provide, in each cycle, the product passage times and at the end of the acceleration conduit 2. With this information, the servomotor M2 drive will gradually adjust, if necessary, the opening for product passage to the conduit 2. By way of example, a time of passage through the first sensor S1 arranged at the inlet of the acceleration conduit 2 that is significantly less than the time of passage through the second sensor S2 located on the filling side will indicate that the product travelling through the acceleration conduit is slowing down. As a result, there is an excess supply at the inlet of the acceleration conduit 2, and accordingly reduced production. This situation is shown in FIGS. 8 to 10. These drawings show how the first metered amount D1 gradually accumulates upstream of the conduit 2. This situation is detected by the second sensor S2 given that the condition t.sub.p1<t.sub.p2 is complied with. As a result of this situation, the blades 16 are closed and although the second metered amount D2 is already falling through the conduit 2, it is held in the control device 14 (see FIGS. 9 and 10), waiting for the obstruction on the filling side 10 to be corrected.

(30) Therefore and based on the information obtained by the first and second sensors S1 and S2, the system will make the necessary adjustments in an attempt to equalize both times, always seeking the suitable adjustment for optimum production.